The Haitian Revolution

Important Concepts• Enlightenment ideas inspired revolutions in the United States

and France, which would in turn inspire people of Saint-Domingue to demand independence from France

• BUT, the different social groups within S-D wanted independence for different reasons

• Planters desired independence for economic gain• Petit blancs wanted independence to advance their position in

society ahead of blacks• Free blacks & mulattoes wanted rights• Slaves wanted to not be slaves anymore (pretty easy concept)• War raged between France, England, and Spain during and after

the Haitian Revolution.

Brief History of Haiti• Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492

– Inhabited by Taino natives• French settled western half of island in 1600s = Saint Domingue

– Spanish in Western half– Pirate outpost– British there too– All battled for control& influence throughout the Haitian Revolution

• Began cash crop farming by 1700s– Tobacco, indigo, sugar plantations– Need large labor force– Import large number of slaves

Social Hierarchy• Whites (~20,000)

– Gran Blancs – plantation owners• Disenchanged by France by 1770 for reasons similar to those of American colonists (trade rules & representation)

– Petit Blancs – artisants, shop keepers, merchants, teachers, & other middle- and under-class whites• Usually more loyal to France• Committed to slavery & very anti-black, which would cause tensions with France as French Revolution progressed

• Free Persons of Color (~30,000)– Freed blacks = affrancis– Mulattoes = children of white Frenchmen & slave women, often freed by masters– Black slaves could purchase own freedom too– Often more wealthy than petit blancs or even planters– Could own plantations & slaves– Did not have rights as citizens of France– Tended to side with planters as being pro-independence

• Black Slaves (500,000)– Domestic Slaves – cooks, servants, artisans– Field hands – agricultural workers; illiterate– Maroons – runaway slaves living in small villages; bitterly anti-slavery

Tensions in the Colony 1750-1784• 1750s – Free blacks & mulattoes began to amass wealth & power

– Threatened petit blancs– Wanted rights of French citizens

• 1763-68 – whites tried to control affrancis– Legislation forbade them from holding public offices, practicing certain trades (law,

medicine, etc.), assembling in public, sitting or dressing like whites, gambling, traveling, or entering France

• 1763 – End of Seven Years’ War = colonists increasingly resent France’s mercantilist policies, preventing profitable trade

• 1771 – Louis XV issues more laws elaborating on Code Noir of 1685, stripping mulattoes of many privileges & freedoms in colony

• 1776 – US Decl. of Independence inspires slaves in Saint-Domingue• 1784 – France re-imposes the Code Noir, but with some enhancements to

slaves’ work hours, rations, and quality of life, although most can’t take advantage of new rules

French Revolution Begins 1788-1790

• Third Estate battled for voice as well as Mulattoes and Free Blacks, but were blocked by white colonists

• 1789 – DRMC adopted in France• Oct. 1789 – Colonial Assembly forms in S-D to

combat actions from National Assembly on behalf of free blacks & mulattoes

• 1790 – full legislative powers given to the Colonial Assembly, giving colony almost complete autonomy but sidestepping the mulatto issue

Slave Resistance Gains Momentum 1790-1791

• Oct.1790 – Oge Rebellion – affrancis led revolt against white colonial authorities, escaping to England and going to the US; managed to amass 300 troops to march against white supremacy… eventually caught & executed

• 1791 – Insurrections begin amongst 10-15,000 slaves; armed rebellion begins

• Summer 1791 – black & mulatto leaders increase organizational efforts + slaves form independent movement for emancipation

Haitian Revolution Begins 1791

• 14 August – Bois Caiman Ceremony – plantations set aflame by slaves; successfully unite network of Africans, mulattoes, maroons, house slaves, field slaves, and free blacks

• 8 Sept. – Revolution spreads, becoming more militant & organized; slaves desert or stop working; plantations destroyed

Revolution Builds 1791-92

• 24 Sept. - National Assembly revokes May 15 decree, which had granted limited rights to free blacks & mulattoes

• 26 Sept. - Le Cap is burned by rebelling slaves• Oct. – Port-au-Prince is burned to the ground + Toussaint

L’Ouverture gains recognition as promising leader in rebel army

• 4 April 1792 – Louis XVI affirms Jacobin Decree, granting equal political rights to free blacks & mulattoes in S-D

• May & June – Spain declares war on England, then France; battle for control of S-D; blacks & mulattoes ally with British in the south

Upheavals in France & S-D 1792-1796

• Sept. 1792 – Republic established; Louis XVI beheaded• Feb. 1793 –Rebel leaders join Spanish forces v. France; France

declares war on England & Holland • Aug. 1793 – certain slaves freed on sequestered plantations of

emigres and deportees• 29 Aug. – General Emancipation decree abolishes slavery in the

north; now slaves are ‘laborers’ with wages, but still legally bound to property & daily life changes little

• Feb. 1794 – Convention officially abolishes slavery in France & its colonies

• Late 1794 – Maroon bands join with L’Ouverture’s forces & launch attacks against the British

Toussaint L’Ouverture in Power 1976-1801

• Winter 1797-98 – L’Ouverture’s army conquers most of British-occupied SD in the west; Rigaud’s army conquers British in the south

• March 1798 – British surrender & negotiate peace with L’Ouverture• 1799 – Napoleon overthrows the Directory & restores the pre-

Revolution status quo of white rule• July 1801 – L’Ouverture proclaims new constitution & declares

himself Governor General for life– SD is still a French colony, but slavery is abolished & colony will be

autonomous– Rejected by Napoleon, who sends General Victor-Emmanuel LeClerc to

reimpose slavery & the Code Noir• Planters increasingly unhappy with affairs in SD & request Napoleon

unseat L’Ouverture & restore slavery

Leclerc in Saint-Domingue 1801-1802

• Oct. 1801 – sent to S-D to convince residents of France’s good will, wage war against rebel army generals, disarm blacks & mulattoes, & reimpose slavery

• Feb. 1802 – L’Ouverture sends letters warning of French intention to restore slavery, but all are intercepted; half of his army fights under Leclerc, who gains control of the south

• April 1802 – warrant issued for L’Ouverture’s arrest; accepts offer from Leclerc– Dessalines, L’Ouverture’s colleague, also submits & bides his time to unite colony’s blacks against

the French– Napoleon reinstitutes slavery in several colonies, but not S-D

• June 1802 – Leclerc betrays agreement with L’Ouverture & arrests him; he dies of consumption in prison

• July 1802 – new waves of rebellion erupt as Leclerc tries to disarm & suppress laborers• August 1802 – black & mulatto officers in French army rejoin revolutionary troops &

maroon guerilla bands– *core of revolution now average laborers, not military leaders, who had already been fighting for

10 years– Leclerc realizes he will have to kill all blacks to complete his mission– By October, he suggests completely restarting the colony, eliminating rebels & importing new

slaves

Final Years of Revolution 1802-03

• Oct. 1802 – Dessalines & Cristophe (leaders) defect from French army & take black/mulatto officers with them, forming national identity among blacks

• Nov. 1802 – Leclerc dies of yellow fever• April 1803 – Louisiana Purchase signed• Aug. 1803 –French evacuate troops from South;

revolutionary army in control by Oct.• Nov 1803 – General Rochambeau surrenders to

Dessalines

Haitian Independence

• 1 Jan. 1804 – Dessalines proclaims Haiti’s independence– World’s first black republic– Taino name of island “Hayti” restored

• Jan-Feb – Dessalines orders slaughter of remaining French residents in Haiti (4,000 killed)

• Oct 1904 – Dessalines crowned Emperor Jacques I• May 1805 – Dessalines ratifies Haiti’s first

constitution, proclaiming all Haitians black & permanently removes slavery

Importance

• Second free state in the Western hemisphere• First independent country ruled by blacks• Loss of French power in the Caribbean